Rapunzel
by NorthShadow
Summary: Did you know the Doctor and his daughter cannot bear to read Rapunzel? The reason why begins on a quiet night on Gallifrey, where their evening is interrupted by Daleks. AU. Please review.


(A/N - This to some degree fits into the canon of my other story; this was written after that.)

* * *

><p><strong>Rapunzel<strong>

Over a millennium, Milly and The Doctor had taken care of one another; sometimes she would be the one to make him tea or cover him with a blanket if he fell asleep on the sofa or sabotage his bowling games by sending a ball down the gutter when his back was turned; most of the time it was he who did these things.

Their favourite activity was being read to. For Milly, it felt like childhood again. She loved snuggling under her duvet or a blanket, curling up in a chair and just listening to her father read, just like when she was young. For him...well, he just loved to watch her read, the way she always flicked the corner of the page with her nail, the way she'd run her hand over the cover and the care she'd take to ensure the spine remained as unblemished as possible.

By now, they'd finished every book in the TARDIS library, including the rude ones (the Fifty Shades trilogy had been the only ones not cringe-worthy purely due to it being so hilariously bad), although Milly hadn't appreciated going through the Kama Sutra and having her father point out the positions he'd attempted ("That's why I cracked that rib the other month, I'll never try that again!").

There was just one book in the whole of the infinite ship that they hadn't read. It had been suggested plenty of times but neither Milly or her father could ever muster the courage to even pick it up, and that was Rapunzel. They couldn't even watch Tangled (which was a shame because Clara was rather fond of it) but explaining the reasons why was more painful than the story itself and always caused confusion among new companions.

* * *

><p>Halfway through the story, Juliana found the book thrown from her hands as the small person sat beside her, imagination captured by the pretty princess with the golden hair that measured miles, suddenly wriggled out from under her arm and ran across the living room to the window.<p>

"Milly!"

"Mummy! Come look!"

At four-and-a-half, and small for her age, Milly was barely tall enough to see out of the window, and was stood on her very tiptoes, her small fingers lifting the curtain a fraction.

"Come back here, and don't run! It's nearly bedtime. Come on, Mummy will finish reading Rapunzel and then we can drink the cocoa Daddy is making and then we'll tuck you up in your nice warm bed. OK?" Juliana retrieved the book; thankfully none of the pages were bent or, worse, ripped.

"Mummy, come here and look!" Milly was insistent, bobbing on the balls of her bare feet.

Juliana sauntered over and looked down at her daughter, in her little nightdress and damp hair from the bath – her father had emerged from the bathroom sopping wet after getting too involved in their game of 'submarines' – and smiled, stroking her head lightly.

"What's going on?" came a call from the kitchen, where the smell of cocoa was emanating from.

"I don't know," Juliana replied. "What's up sweetheart?"

Milly looked up, her green eyes large and round with excitement. "Is there a robot festival?"

Frowning, Juliana tipped her head to one side; there was a laugh from the kitchen and a shout of 'imaginative little tyke'. "What do you mean, robots?"

Pressing her finger into the windowpane, the little Time Lady said, "Look! There's robots! Outside in the street riding around. Why do they have plungers, are they plumbers? Has Mr Nebuto's lodger blocked his toilet again? The last time he did, the plumber said it was the biggest poo he had ever seen!"

Juliana's stomach dropped, and all sounds of cocoa-preparation ceased from the kitchen.

_Plumbers? Robots with plungers? Is that what she said?_

_Yes._

Carefully pulling the curtain back a little more, at once Juliana's worst fears were confirmed; an unmistakeable gold body, the black plunger – so innocuous and yet so deadly – and that monotonous voice…

"Milly," Juliana said, attempting to keep her voice calm, "put your coat on."

Understandably, Milly was confused. Wasn't Mummy daft, whoever went to bed in their coat! Although… Maybe Mummy was taking her to see the robots! Still, she thought she'd ask. After all, politeness was everything in this household. "Why?" she asked, hoping the answer to be 'because we're going to see the robots'.

It wasn't that. Juliana simply said, 'just do it please' and wrenched the curtains shut.

Milly hurried off to fetch her coat, not quite understanding what was happening but nevertheless deciding to obey. Juliana watched her as she pulled on her little red coat with the furry hood and the large pockets shaped like lions and swallowed the tears that threatened to swell. This perfect life couldn't end like this…

_We knew this would happen one day Julie, that's why we have The Plan._

_The Daleks are ruthless, Doc. If they spot us trying to escape… We'll all be dead._

_I know, don't think about that._

"What's Daleks?"

Juliana looked down at her little girl and realised she'd been muttering 'Daleks, anything but Daleks' under her breath. She couldn't tell her what a Dalek was. She was so blissfully unaware of the carnage that was likely to be going on outside. She was so innocent. Opting not to answer, Juliana bent down and quickly slipped her daughter's feet into her trainers.

There was a scream from outside; it sounded close.

"Take Milly and go," Juliana said to her husband as he passed. The Doctor, midway through pulling on a jacket over his waistcoat, nodded and seized his daughter, hefting her onto his hip.

"Put your hood up," he said urgently.

It was beginning to dawn on Milly that these robots – or Daleks, whatever they were – may not be friendly and she bit her lip. "Daddy, where are we going?"

The Doctor didn't reply.

_Take Milly and go, you know where they are. I'll be right there, I promise. I don't want her to see the blaster, it'll scare her._

_She's already scared Julie, I doubt pulling the blaster from the cupboard will make much difference._

_Doc please shut up and go!_

Heeding her telepathic words, The Doctor clutched his daughter tighter and hurried back through the kitchen to the back door, which he unlocked with one hand.

"What about the cocoa Daddy," Milly whined, forlornly staring at the still-steaming mugs on the kitchen table. "Where are we going? Why isn't Mummy coming with us?"

"I'll be right behind you!" Juliana called from the living room.

_I love you._

_I know why you said that. Don't be ridiculous, I'll be there in a few. NOW, GO!_

Switching off the kitchen light and poking his head out of the back door, The Doctor checked the coast was clear before hurrying out of the house, shutting the door behind them. In the distance, people were screaming and there was the unmistakeable sound of ray guns and that word, that one word he had never wanted to ever hear.

"Daddy-."

"Shh!" Keeping to the shadows, The Doctor started to run, not stopping until he was facing a patch of TARDISes; he headed to one in the back row, and slipped the key from his pocket, letting them inside – this was the major advantage to having a wife who worked in TARDIS license regulation.

"Alright," he said, setting Milly down and crouching so he was eye-level with her. "Listen carefully. Daddy is going to go and get Mummy; you're going to lock this door behind me and then you're going to sit right here," he pointed at the floor where his daughter was standing, "and wait for Daddy's secret knock. That's the only time you're ever to open the door. Understand me?" He gripped his daughter's shoulders tightly, imploring her to understand, so he didn't have to explain what was happening.

"Daddy, are we stealing someone's TARDIS? We don't have one." Milly cocked her head to one side.

"Don't be silly, of course not!" He kissed Milly's forehead and left the TARDIS, hearing the door lock behind him.

Staring at the locked door, Milly blinked a few times. She reckoned that maybe the reason she'd put her coat and shoes on was because they were going on a trip: the TARDIS was a surprise! They could be off, exploring all the galaxy, meeting Rapunzel, eating all the ice cream and drinking all the lemonade they could, riding the waterslides on Ekreblon Five and be back by bedtime. Forgetting about the Dalek robot plumbers outside, Milly sat down cross legged on the spot she'd been told to and eagerly awaited the return of her parents, trying to decide whether she wanted chocolate or strawberry ice cream first and whether Mummy would bring her a swimming costume.

* * *

><p>"Exterminate. EXTERMINATE!"<p>

_No… JULIANA, NO!_

Not caring if the Daleks were still inside, The Doctor burst back into the house, frantically looking around the rooms until he came across her, lying on her front on Milly's bedroom floor. The front door was wide open and most of the lights had been extinguished, but there was no sign of the Daleks; they'd left the house.

"Julie!" he rasped, throwing himself down onto his knees beside her, choking back tears as he gently rolled her over and pulled her head onto his lap. "Julie?"

Opening her own green eyes, Juliana focused on her husband's face. "Doc," she croaked, "my Doctor."

"Why aren't you regenerating?" he asked, stroking his thumb down the side of her face. When she didn't reply, he shook his head so violently his fringe flopped backwards and forwards; had this not been such a dire situation, he knew that Juliana would've laughed. "C'mon," he said, now unable to keep the tears out of his voice, "you need to regenerate."

Feeling for her husband's hand cupping her cheek, Juliana clutched it tightly. "I can't," she whispered.

"But she knows," The Doctor pleaded, "she knows that when we get old or when we are mortally wounded our cells renew themselves and return us back to young adulthood. She knows you'd still be you, just young again!"

"She knows yes, but she's too young to fully understand it. I won't be her mummy anymore. Remember what it was like for you…" Juliana licked her lips, but there was no saliva on her tongue. "Remember how long it took for you to adjust when your mum regenerated, and you were two years older than Milly."

The Doctor found himself speechless.

"It's OK," Juliana smiled, "I know you'll take care of her."

"I can't… I can't do it." Grabbing her hand, he clutched it tightly between his own. "I can't be alone…"

Juliana patted his hand weakly. "Yes you can," she murmured. "You're stronger than you think."

The Doctor looked down at his soulmate, the woman of his dreams, the woman who, during their schooldays, had once had her older brother stuff him in his locker for writing her a love letter – it took three days before anyone noticed he was absent from lessons and pulled him free. He couldn't lose her, he couldn't…

"I love you, more than anything, remember that, forever and always."

"No… NO!"

Juliana's hand went slack as she finally gave up the fight; her eyes drifted closed and her last breath rattled from her lips, and then she was gone, gone forever, and The Doctor wept harder than ever before – even during those three days wedged uncomfortably in the locker – as ray guns and shouts and screams for help rent the air around him through the still open front door, muffling his howls of deep grief. He cradled Juliana's head to his chest and kissed her lips and forehead and cheeks and finally, after his eyes were nearly swollen shut and he seemed to have temporarily run out of tears, he pressed her hand to his lips.

It took him a long time to gather the strength to let her hand go; she was cool now. He stood, shakily, and realised that the cries and shouts and ray guns had stopped, the neighbourhood was quiet. Suddenly, it was just like a normal evening: the pink-painted bedroom was untouched. The teddies sat neatly on the shelf, the wooden keepsake box sat on the low dresser, the photos were stuck to the wall with what they first thought was ordinary tack – after further investigation it turned out to be chewing gum – and the quilt was folded back, ready for Milly to hop into bed. There was a book missing from the shelf, Rapunzel, which was still lying open, the fairytale unfinished, on the chair in the living room.

With fresh tears streaming down his face, The Doctor packed a few things, including the locket Juliana wore around her neck, and, placing his beloved wife in the bed of his daughter who would be eagerly awaiting his return, he tucked her in and left the house for the last time, knowing they could never return and that sooner rather than later the planet of Gallifrey would be completely destroyed.

* * *

><p>When she heard the secret knock, Milly jumped to her feet: she had taken off her coat and, seeing as she was too short to reach the hat stand, had left it on the floor in a heap. She unlocked the door and sprang back eagerly, but saw only her father enter the TARDIS, quickly closing the door behind him.<p>

"Daddy, where's Mummy? And why have you got my keepsake box?"

Her father didn't reply; he set the box down on the floor and started up the TARDIS, disconnecting it from the stem, and waking up its engine.

"Daddy?" She was beginning to panic now; Mummy had said she'd be right behind them. Why wasn't she here? "Daddy," she said thickly, her eyes filling with tears, "where are we going?"

As soon as the TARDIS was into the time vortex The Doctor held his daughter, his flesh and blood, tightly in his arms and together they wept for their loss, although she wasn't to know what had happened for several years, and wouldn't know the full story until they ran into their past echoes in the TARDIS, over 1000 years later and she witnessed her mother's death and her father's anguish unfolding before her in the console room, whilst her real father stood beside her, silent tears of grief sliding down his face as he relived the worst night of his life.

Clara, having no memory of living two days in one and completely unaware of any of the past echoes that had occurred, was startled to walk into the console room that night to see Milly and her father weeping in each other's arms at the memory; she quietly backed out of the room, thinking it best not to ask why they were both clutching an ancient-looking copy of Rapunzel.


End file.
